


Feeling Nothing (until you really feel nothing)

by celestialdelegate



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: i dont know what im doing hi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28103040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialdelegate/pseuds/celestialdelegate
Summary: What if William had been a little bit faster? What if his daughter didn't have to die? What if--
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Feeling Nothing (until you really feel nothing)

There was something about feeling nothing that twisted people to think in a way they never would. William Afton felt nothing these days, aside from the stray flicker of an emotion that would burn in his heart for a short time before turning to ash. He was not without his troubles and he's sure before everything, he must have felt something. Anything.

He vaguely remembered happiness, like a childhood memory of a sunshiny day, so distant and muted, but still present. Sometimes he could feel that again, when Elizabeth smiled up at him or when he would see something that managed to break through the fog in his mind.

It was never enough to really chip away at that nothingness, though. And the thoughts that came with it were impossible to handle at times. It was better than feeling, he told himself. It was better than the guilt from your own creations killing your son, or the gut wrenching horror he had felt staring at the light in his best friend's daughter's eyes fade, knowing he had done that.

It was an accident, he would remind himself. A stupid mistake, he should have been more careful, paid attention, shouldn't have been driving when he hadn't slept in a week. Excuses, he would tell himself. They were all excuses.

If he really felt bad, surely he would stop, right?

'you truly are a monster, william,' That voice in his head would laugh, a cruel sound that left him flinching in public, paranoid eyes darting around, 'Murderer. You deserve whats coming.'

What was coming, he had no idea. How could he have known?

To combat the guilt, to prevent any more loss of himself, he would tell Elizabeth to avoid one of his newest creations. Circus Baby was.. truly something, a marvel of technology coming together as a wolf in sheep's clothing. A smiling, friendly clown face, hiding writhing wires and an endo-skeleton built for terrible things. 

It wasn't meant to kill anyone, or so he told himself. It was like a mouse trap, you know. It isn't supposed to kill them, but.. accidents happen. All tests using dolls and stuffed toys seemed to work fine, just fine. No collateral damage, or at least nothing to write home about.

But still, humans were not dolls. His daughter was no toy and he refused to risk it. "Stay away from her, Elizabeth" was becoming a daily mantra as he turned his daughter loose in the Pizzeria. Every day, she would agree in exasperation, a tired "Okay, okay! I won't go near her, geeze.."

He wished he could have hammered the seriousness in a bit harder than he had.

The Pizzeria had grown.. suspiciously quiet. Any parent knows that quiet children is a terrible sign, something to cause alarm. Especially in a place like this. He sets his clipboard down, quickly making his way through the Pizzeria and mentally checking off children.

When he doesn't spot his daughter's red hair poking up above the group, he feels his heart drop.

So much for feeling nothing.

He hurries, trying to keep a calm pace as he heads straight for Circus Baby, crossing the threshold until the tall animatronic was in sight. Her eyes stared down at something below her and he could almost feel the tension of the mechanisms in her chest beginning to whir.

"Elizabeth--" 

Picking up the pace, he rushes forward, quickly grabbing his daughter by the shoulder and pulling her back, putting himself between her and the animatronic. "Elizabeth, I told you--" 

Elizabeth's green eyes narrow up at him, a stern pout making it's way to her mouth as her eyebrows crinkle in frustration. "It's not fair! You made her for me, I should get to play with her! Why won't you let me play with her??" 

Frowning, he turns all the way to her, his back fully facing the animatronic now. "Because, Elizabeth, I said so. This is not a discussion or debate, you need to listen to me. Now, go play elsewhere."

"No! I don't want to! I want to play with Baby!"

"Elizabeth--"

"I want to play with her!!"

A headache begins to grow in his temples, the sleepless nights and frustration catching up to him, piling on top of all this yelling--

"Elizabeth, I don't want to hear it! I said go play, now go play--!"

There's a noise behind him, like plates sliding together and the final pop of something snapping, like a wire holding on for too long before it finally breaks. He doesn't feel the pain at first, just a strange pressure and a tearing that rips through the back of his shirt and the skin underneath.

His eyes widen and so do Lizzie's, terror filling her eyes like she'd just seen a monster. A scream tears out of her as the clawed grabber he'd installed in the animatronic shoves itself deeper into his back, his glasses slipping off and clattering to the floor from the force of it. His mouth opens but no words leave him, only his own blood flowing out in thick rivets.

Elizabeth's screams echo in his ears, her terrified sobbing sticking with him even as other blurry figures rush over to pull her away. The animatronic shudders, yanking him close and slamming his bloodied body against itself. He was too big to fit in the space carved out of Baby's chest, but the animatronic didn't seem to care.

There's a firm pulling feeling in his back as the metal rips itself back out, retreating into the chest of the animatronic. His body stumbles forward a step, two, and then crumples to the floor, blood rapidly pooling out from his mouth and back. By the time anyone rushes over to check on him, his heart has stopped entirely.

There was something about feeling nothing that twisted people to think in a way they never would. William had felt nothing, until his own creation decided to show him just how much he really felt.


End file.
